There's overseas evidence to show financial incentives to get people into electric vehicles do work.

The Government is proposing a Clean Car Standard to improve fuel efficiency, and a Clean Car Discount, funded by fees on high-emission vehicles.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority CEO Andrew Caseley told Heather du Plessis-Allan there are variations on the policy, but they've all got the same objective.

"Probably the Northern European countries are the ones who have shown this to work best. Sweden's recently introduced it, so there is plenty of evidence it does work well."